Review: Warbreaker, Part 2 of 3

Sanderson continues to weave together 3 narratives in a way that makes me really invested in each one. Well, to be fair, for most of this part of the book I viewed Vivena’s sections with resignation. Interestingly, both sisters are naive in their own ways. Vivena is naive through an overly focused education and a position of privilege. Siri is naive from always blowing off her education and those around her having a vested interest in keeping her in the dark. The difference is that Vivena comes off as a stuck up snob for most of her character arc in this part, although things rally near the end when she finally starts to accept her status as a blasphemer and tries to use it for good.

Over with Siri we have her evolving relationship with the God-King. I can’t remember if it was part 1 or this part, but her subplot about faking not just orgasms, but the entire sexual act was pure comedy. When the God-King looked at her puzzled, I had a feeling his story was going to revolve around being too cloistered. And it’s true – they have cloistered him. They’ve also cut his tongue in order to control him (in a move that I’ve seen in other fictional stories). I think this makes his evolution with Siri very interesting because he’s got a bit of a Stockholm thing going on and I think he might end up screwing up Siri’s plans out of too much trustworthiness with his priests. I’ve also enjoyed Siri’s leveling up on court intrigue and dealing.

Light Song was my favorite from the beginning. I’ve always enjoyed sardonic characters and he’s no exception. That said, it’s been fun to see him move from pure comic relief to starting to investigate Vasha’s actions. I also positively love the way he rejects Blushweaver. Also poo on Blush Weaver for slut-shaming Siri. I know she thinks Siri is a traitor there to destroy the kingdom, but it just sucks her way of attacking Siri is to attack her sexuality (and with a false claim, at that).

And speaking of comic relief as well as circling back to the beginning, the face-heel turn at the end is awesome for the same reason that Littlefinger’s Face-Heel turn is awesome. Both in the book and in the TV show my favorite LF moment is when he tells Ned “I told you not to trust me.” There’s a certain boldness in an author to tell you not only that a twist is going to happen, but to tell you the twist to your face and then write in a way so that you don’t believe him. (or her)

Top priority when I get home is loading part 3 onto my phone.

Oh yeah, and someone I wanted to bring up from my status comments: my favorite Light Song moments are when Laramar (his high priest) exasperatedly reminds him that he can’t get drunk or get headaches.